Natalie & Alex

Lola Rose Photography

The tipi with all it’s twinkling fairy lights & candelabras give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside; it looks truly magical & what’s even more special is that it was all at Natalie’s parents home in Surrey.

The church ceremony sounds like a wonderful service; especially with the Vicar pulling out his Saxophone and treating guests to a little tune during the hymns! I can honestly say I’ve never heard of such a treat and I bet it was a truly fabulous experience.

The Brides Fashion

Natalie The Bride: I knew I wanted something lacy, floaty and simple; it was only when I tried on the Annasul Y dress with my Sister/Maid of honour (Susie Dunbar) and she burst into tears that I knew it was the one. It was a warm summers day so a strapless dress seemed perfect, forgetting we were getting married in the depth of winter hence I decided to have the bolero made. We brought the dress from The Secret Dress House in Reigate, Margaret and Delphine were incredibly helpful throughout the dress fitting process. I felt sad when our (Mum and me) weekly trips to see the ladies in Reigate were over. I wore a simple floor length veil with the dress on the day. I fell in love with the Jenny Packham headpiece immediately and it balanced the detail of the dress perfectly.

Grooms Attire

Alex wanted something original but classic. The suit jacket was Navy blue paired with Prince of Wales check grey trousers and waistcoat. White shirt from New and Lingwood and knitted tie was burgundy with ivory spots from Hilditch & Key. Shoes were black ‘Hoxton’ from Crockett and Jones.

The Venue

We were very lucky to be able to have the reception in my parent’s garden in four large tipi’s. From the beginning of wedding planning we were both hooked on the idea of tipi’s – we loved the rustic nature of them, the warmth inside with the fires, and creating light through tons of fairy lights. It was such an exciting week seeing the tipis going up and taking over our garden. Lots of guests described walking into the tipis as walking into Narnia!

Colour Scheme / Decor

We didn’t want too much of a formal wedding but rather a celebration with our friends and family – plenty of dancing, drinking and laughing. We were both keen to have warm, winter colours but not feeling too ‘Christmassy’ whilst also being in keeping with the rustic feel of the tipis. Our chosen colours in the end were burgundy, greens and creams.

Florist

Amanda from Distinctly Floral, was amazing at literally reading my mind! She knew exactly what I was looking for: unstructured, seasonal, winter warm flowers. In the church we kept it simple with small jars filled with flowers and candle on the windowsills. We had a mixture of jugs of flowers on some of the tables and candelabras on others in the reception. All our friends and family collected jars (we ended up with about 300!) which we decorated with lace and added a few flowers to for the tables.

Bridesmaids

Choosing Bridesmaid dresses that would suit all six of my Bridesmaids was the toughest part of the wedding. I knew I wanted their dresses to be slightly different and suit their style so I chose the wrap dresses from In One Clothing. Sylvia, the owner, was very helpful in sending samples and getting the dresses adjusted to fit them all perfectly. The Bridesmaids all wore fur stoles from Accessorize to keep them warm and cosy. They all wore their own sparkly gold shoes

Ceremony

We got married in St Peter’s Church, located in a small village called Limpsfield, just a few minutes from the reception at home. I walked down the aisle to Gabriel Oboe: Mission, a very important song to both of us. We chose the hymns: O’Come All Ye Faithful, Guide Me O’ thou Great Redeemer, and Lord of the Dance. As planned, half way through O’Come All Ye Faithful, the priest started playing his saxophone which was fantastic and added to the already convivial atmosphere. Two of our best friends sang and one played the piano – Falling Slowly from the musical Once and Falling In Love by Ingrid Michaelson. It was touch and go whether my Grandparents would be able to make the wedding, walking into the room and seeing them there was an incredibly special moment.

Entertainment

We were lucky to have an excellent band playing at our wedding, John Bull and The Bandits, a six piece blues band covering songs from the 50s and 60s. They played an acoustic set for the reception followed by several sets in the evening. They were the perfect choice and had everyone dancing all night long.

Food

Working in the restaurant industry and both being massive foodies, this was incredibly important to us. Our chosen caterers were Kalm Kitchen who were incredibly professional and helpful throughout the process, serving incredibly yummy food. Our dinner options were pies followed by sticky toffee pudding, going along the same lines of the rustic, warming nature of the wedding. We chose pie masters on each table to cut/serve the pie, making dinner an interactive and fun experience. My Auntie created a beautiful fruit cake for us which sat on a name embossed log. My Mum made over 200 delicious miniature mince pies to be enjoyed with coffee and tea.

Photographer

After scouring the country for a photographer we stumbled upon Kelly from Lola Rose Photography and knew instantly that she would fit our style of wedding – we loved how she told the story. We were so impressed with the end results. For a wedding present we brought my parents a puppy and wanted to name her after something significant in the wedding – her name is Lola!

Videographer

DIY

We were really keen to put our own DIY touches on our special day: all the slate planks were from our garden, the fudge favours were made by my Sister (she spent countless hours creating the perfect consistency), our guest book was a Methuselah of Moet & Chandon. We had specially engraved bottles of Belvedere vodka with our names written on.

Advice

Best advice would be to enjoy the build up to your wedding day, it goes in a flash and you wonder why you worried so much about the style of bunting for instance. Also take some time out on your special day with your other half to take it all in…Advice for brides, don’t eat too much pie in a tight dress!!